It Could Happen Here - CZM Rewind: Plastic People, by Tobias Buckell

Episode Date: August 30, 2026

Margaret reads Gare a story in making fun of rich people in space Original Air Date: 12.03.2023See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellairdirect.com. I'm Munges Chategular, and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talked to scientists, biopunks, cremudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever.

what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. To make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive,

How to Live Forever on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions.

Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to pro-society on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Cool Zone Media.

It's the Cool Zone Media Book Club. Hello and welcome to Cool Zone Media Book Club. the only book club where you don't have to do the reading because i do it for you and this week even i don't have to do the reading because i did it three years ago that's right this is a rewind episode this episode we are going back to december 23 those halison days i halicon i actually don't know how to pronounce that word it's not the kind of word you say out loud it's just the kind of word that's in fancy books. In those glorious simple days of

2023, which were not glorious or simple, in those days I read you a story by Tobias Buckell called The Plastic People. It was, in fact, only the fourth episode of this show that wasn't written

by me. And it's back when I had guests. When I had guests that I would read the story to instead of reading it directly to you. So then, come with me, if you dare to 2023. And the story, The Plastic People by Tobias Buckell. Book Club, Book Club, Book Club, Book Club.

It's the Book Club. It's the Cool Zone Media Book Club. I'm your host, Marker Kiljoy. And with me today is my guest fellow, it could, well, I'm not an it could happen here, post, but this is on. It could happen here. Feed. Sure is. And that's Gare. Hello. I read books. Amazing. I mostly listen to audiobooks at this point, honestly. Oh, I do. I can't retain the information with an audio, but at least most of the books I read are just like nonfiction.

I haven't, I haven't read a novel in years, which I kind of feel bad about. But my job warns, I read just a whole bunch of like really upsetting nonfiction. And I can't take notes the same way if I'm listening to an audio book. I don't know. Oh, no, that's true for me. I forget that my day job is reading history books for podcasts. Those I read in print. I actually really like reading the physical book while pacing. Oh, yeah, me too.

Yeah. I love pacing. It's so good. Maybe you're pacing while you're listening to this, dear listener. Cool Zone Media Book Club is every Sunday. And I read you stories. And this week's story is by a friend of mine, Tobias S. Backel. I'm sort of a former teacher of mine who I think is really cool.

I met Tobias when he was my teacher at the Clarion West Writers Workshop. And I would just like to shout out that aspiring writers, there's a six-week workshop called Clary and West. There's another one called Clarian. I went to Claryon West, so I have a little bit of Bi-Eyer. us towards it. And it sounds like a reality TV show, but it's not. I spent six weeks in a sorority house with 18 strangers in Seattle and learned science fiction writing from amazing authors with a different author every week comes in to teach us. That sounds cool. Yeah, it was, it's a really good thing for people who are like just at the part of writing where you're just starting to be good enough,

but you're not consistently good enough yet, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it really, I'm not a formal education person. I don't have any degrees. I've been thinking about framing my high school diploma to put behind me in Zoom calls as a joke. That would be funny. That'd be good. But Clarion West, workshop type things is very practical.

and Toby is a really good teacher. Toby's bio, before we get to the story, Tobias S. Buckel is a New York Times best-selling author and World Fantasy Award winner born in the Caribbean. He grew up in Granada and spent time in the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, which influenced much of his work. His novels and almost 100 stories have been translated into 20 languages. His work has been nominated for awards like the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy,

and the astounding award for Best New Science Fiction author. He currently lives in Bluffton, Ohio with his wife and two daughters, where he teaches creative writing at Bluffton University. He's online at Tobiasbuckle.com. That's B-U-C-K-E-L-L-L-L. And to spell Tobias, I guess, I'll just read the whole thing. T-O-B-I-A-S-B-C-E-L-L dot com.

And is also an instructor at the Stone Coast MFA and Creative Writing Program. And also sometimes he teaches Clarion West. They should find a year. There you go. I've been looking at workshops, but I've been working at clown-clowning workshops because there's no good clown schools on the East Coast except for in New York, and I've never been to New York. So now I'm looking for like regional clown workshops because all the clown schools are in the elitist

L.A. and New York theater scenes. It's no good. Tragic. It's funny when I first joined the anarchy scene, there was a lot of like radical clowns. And so there was like clown workshops. But I hear that Gen Z is like obsessed with clowns. And all my friends are complaining that like the dating apps are full of like sexy clowns. Yes, yes.

Clowns are back in a big way, but we don't have like the training to support it. There's a lot of like clown aesthetics, but not much about actual clowning. So hopefully they'll be like a clown renaissance, a clown asance, if you will, in the next five years. years as more of the Gen Z clowns kind of get educated and are able to start providing their own kind of education to the up-and-coming Gen Alpha clowns or whatever. Would this be at a clonisance, clown-a-sense festival? I mean, I have gone as a jester to multiple rent-fares. That's true, I've gone with you. With you to a renfair before. Yeah. Okay, well, that has nothing to do with today's story. But it's a fun story.

and that's why I picked it. We've been doing a lot of very serious stories, which are also very good. But I kind of wanted to do something a little bit more lighthearted to make fun of rich people. Evergreen. Evergreen fun time.

I know, and it's actually funny because it's a very classic sci-fi story in so many ways, even though it's modern, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This story is called The Plastic People. Rea found the feral child on the edge of the garbage park on the last day of the group's vacation.

Garrison passed out from drinking the better part of a bottle of 100-year-old Islay Scotch had dropped a cigar onto the edge of the canvas tent and set it all on fire. I absolutely picked you for the guest of this character. Yeah, I usually only get Garrison Keeler because there's not very many of us out there. Oh, I don't know who Garrison Keeler is. I don't know either, but it's the one other person named Garrison in the world. Okay. that, well, now you know that there's a future Garrison.

So, damn it Garrison, Ogunnier shouted, as personal air quality alarms blared. You and your fucking retro addictions. There'd been scrambling and shouting among the five old friends as they tumbled out onto the fetid, methane-rich air outside. Go easy. It isn't something he can do back upstairs. Susie stumbled out of her own tent with a fire extinguisher.

Everyone coughed and spat as she blew the fire out in a cloud of chemical powder. Don't offend him, Ogunnier snapped. Ten years, Garrison shouted, clutching the almost empty bottle triumphantly. His heavy boots crunched in the ground, knocking styrofoam chunks into the air. And I still love you all. That's the last bottle, Ogunne said. Anger suddenly is banked as the tent fire. On this world, Garrison said,

ever. The last bottle of Islay anyone will ever have, Ogunnier said, and snatched it from Garrison. Raya listened to the bickering with half an ear as the orange glow of the fire faded away, as she'd been sure she had seen something skitter past the shadows on the edge of camp. Something's over there, Raya whispered to Susie, by the fridge. London had been listening to them. She pointed in the direction Raya indicated and snapped her fingers. The night lit up and two drones dropped out of the air. Was using them for dance lights, London muttered.

But trash rattled and slid down the pile as the intruder scuttled away from the stunningly bright light. Raya shielded her eyes and tried to follow along as the drones ducked and weaved around the compacted hills of old earth debris. Cornered it, London said triumphantly. Is it a bear? Garrison asked blearily. It's a bear, right? There are no bears, idiot, Susie said. They're extinct, London said. Raya clambered one of the unsteady trash hills

they'd parked the tents between. I see it, she said. It was a little boy, streaked in grease and mud, ribs visible as the drone lights played over him. His wide dark eyes stared fearfully at her as he tried to hide behind a cracked porcelain tub. Oh my, London said clambrane over behind Rea.

The poor little thing. Does he live here, Susie asked, disgusted? How? We just spent three days, Garrison said. It's not that bad. Idiot, Susie said. It's a shithole. It's miles and miles of trash.

It reeks. Everywhere I step, there's old world crap. I agree. While it was fun to see what the old world was like, Aguignet threw the last bottle of Islay off into the dark. It shattered against something invisible out there. I think maybe it's time to call it. Let's go home.

I'm tired of the gravity, Susie agreed. It's oppressive. We can't leave the child here in the trash, Rea protested. Garrison groaned. Oh, come on. That's what it's like down here. You know this. They'd flown down into the heart of the dump for their mini-reunion.

Partying in an exotic location would make an incredible story. All the termites down here can survive just fine without our help. They love living in places like this, Susie said. Don't think you're doing it any favors. Living here must be a hell. It's a hell they chose to make Garrison. said, this is all theirs. They made it. They know how to live in it. Raya clambered her way over rusted out heaps and winced when something jabbed through her boots into her skin.

She'd had all our shots, though, a prerequisite to coming down. Hey there, she said softly to the scared child. His hair was matted and clumped. He was so covered in muck that he almost blended into the night. She held out a candy bar in her right hand. The child snatched it from her, shredding the plastic wrapping as he ripped into it with jagged teeth. What's your name? The child just stared at her. Raya held out a hand. Would you like to come with us?

He scuttled back from her and right into a Gunier's arms. He circled around and snuck up from behind. The child wailed and screamed, but he was a small creature, and Agonier tucked him under an armpit with a quick smile. Shall we go? Everyone agreed that it was time to end the party, and with Rea placated, the reunion trickled back into the shuttle for the trip home. home. Susie strapped into the pilot's seat and activated a return sequence. The main engines lit up

and scattered all their camping equipment off to mingle with the rest of the trash park as the silvered ship thundered into the sky with the feral child screaming all the way up to orbit. Rea tried to give him a chocolate bar, but he ate the wrapper and bar, pointed teeth ripping into the whole package. Then puked it up all over the cabin. You're cleaning that up, Susie shouted, as Rea tried not to throw up herself. And if you want candy bars, are we sponsored by candy?

Sponsored by Big Candy, that's right. We got the 2020-Wanka sponsorship. So line up outside, every fifth, every fifth bar gets you one ticket to Book Club. In your ears, though. You still have to plug in through the headphones.

But you'll be allowed to listen to book club. Yeah. So, yeah. As long as you buy enough candy bars. That's right. Offer them to random children. And here's those ads. There's no shortcut for saving time.

But saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellairdirect.com. Hey, this is Hayes, Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network. Our show is extremely accessible to, first-time listeners. Each week we talk to someone in show business, aka the biz, and try to help

them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, not that great. Actually, can you help me shape this? How about we flip it on his head, right? How about we flip the script? Okay. What is the surprise woman? Actually, you think as the straight man is actually the one who's acting weak. Adam Scott. This entire time, you've been expecting Adam Sandler to come to visit the show. I would never expect.

I would never set expectations for something like that to happen. If the universe allows for something like that to happen, I'm open to it. I'm always going to accept. You know, Danny McBride, fine. Yeah, it's all this fragile masculinity exuding. I could smell it walking down the hallway, to be honest. I was like, is that weed? Nope.

It's fragile masculinity. Ben Stiller, no. Because a lot of times out of context, people don't get it or even know what a circle is. You know what I mean? They're like, oh, what's a state. Everyone's so dumb. And fake. Right, fake and also not interested.

Or just like, oh, I've got my life. I don't care about your life. And a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Oh, and by the way, Will Ferrell told us personally, He loves the show and he wants to be a guest on every episode, but he's just so busy. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear. saying shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them.

There's stories about what it takes to make it out. Out alive, listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, you smiled at us.

Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous. to book your first trip. I hope you listen to Solita

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. Scrubbing the Mangy Child Clean took five domestic assistance an hour. It fought free of the butler's first attempt, and he'd called in the chef

and three clean team professionals to get the kid into the tub. They wash the dogs in. Mighty Tim, Gonzo, and Aphelia, the three poodles, usually the ones unlucky enough to get hauled into the plastic tub in the middle of the mudroom off by the kitchens, barked and ran around in the middle of all the chaos, making the most of the fun.

He's a wiry one, the butler observed, stronger than you'd think. It's all that full gravity, the chef said, drying herself off. Raya watched the chaos unfold on a tablet, patching into the house video feed while enjoying a calming soak in the marble-trimmed upstairs bathroom attached to her unit as she scrubbed away the stink of the old world. and half-digested candy bar. The gold-leafed floor-to-ceiling windows in front of the bathtub

framed the stars beyond. A stunning view, when she stopped to think about it. Mostly, she found that it kept entrancing her personal assistant, so Rhea usually kept the window darkened. On one of the other orbital cities, Rea spent the night with a man who had his whole bathroom floor transparent. You could look down on the mother planet, slowly passing by underneath every minute

while taking a shit. Her view won for class. His was the one everyone talked about at the party. Reyes stood up and toweled herself off. Handy, her PA, had a selection of evening gowns waiting in her room, the one with microblades that could produce enough lift to waft around her legs at a pre-programmed height, got the nod. Then it was off down the hall to Mother's Dining Room,

where she was fussing over the layout. Why is there an extra seating, Allais demanded, hovering over the table as a chef directed the setup. It's for the child, we found, Rea explained. Her mother looked utterly perplexed, so Rea showed her a picture of the sight and one of the child, screaming as they rocketed back up to orbit. It's a feral, Rea said,

living in the garbage dump we went to. The dump, Allais looked horrified. You went down? Susie piloted it. It's safe. How much did that cost? Elise's horror had turned into a vaguely scandalized expression. Raya had to think about that a second.

It was Susie. You know, her father owns the shipping... Recognition flickered across Elise's face. That's Susie. Exactly. Most of the founding families knew each other well enough by first name, but mother always struggled with the names of Rea's friends and which kid matched to which parents.

They were just a blur of little people in and out of the house to her. Of course, the house staff knew Rhea's cohort by name. They'd served them enough dinners and requests over the years. Bring the child in, Raya ordered, and then, to her mother, you wouldn't believe the squalor we found the poor thing in. Well, it is the old world, Elise said. There's a reason we left. Look at what they do to it.

It's barely inhabitable. It's hardly a child's fault it was born to it. I've been saying for years we should just put birth control in all the medicine we shipped down there from the factories. Don't be so gauche. Rea rolled her eyes. You always tried to rescue strays. Remember that little kitten you found over by the garment factory?

Mittens. Rea clenched her jaw. You had it put down. I told you, sweetie. The cats have gotten out of hand in the greenways. They're killing everything and throwing the ecology nets off kilter. We keep having to pull species out of storage to repopulate the gardens. Oh, it's here.

The little boy stood at the servant's doorway, two domestic assistants behind him with hands on his shoulder. They cleaned all the dirt off of him. He was pale, almost sickly so, and so skinny that his shirt and trousers flop baggily around him. One of the domestic assistants had brushed out his long, stringy hair, and braided it. Oh, look at how nicely we cleaned him up, Reya said. You're supposed to return a baby bird to the nest,

Elise whispered to Rea as she sat down. Doesn't this Farrell have parents? Raya caught her breath. She hadn't thought about parents. She'd just seen a near-starving child enacted. Not good ones, if he was living in a dump. It stays in your quarters, Elise Huffed. I don't want it anywhere near my Rembrandts or the silver and never, ever in my rooms.

Come on, little one, Rea waved at the child. Come, sit with us. Let's eat. He approached, poor thing, so tentatively. much like the kitten Elise mentioned, nervous about trusting the outstretched hand. Unlike mittens, the child pulled out a chair and sat down as instructed. Does it speak? Elise asked the domestic assistance. It screams, Miss Rea.

Rea patted the child's hand, and he flinched. Don't be like that, Rea said. We rescued you. Everything's going to be better now. The child whimpered. Rea looked out over the first course being set out and frowned. Let's get you something so magical to cheer you right up, something you never would have experienced in that nasty dump.

Ice cream. Now that was the ticket. Rea ordered it delivered, with chocolate sauce drizzled on the top. There we are, she said, pushing the bowl over. Try this. The child bared teeth. Good God, they're filed to a point, Elise shuddered. Rea scooped a spoonful of ice cream and held it up.

Try it. She took a chilly bite and smiled at him. He nibbled at the spoon when she moved it back over, persuaded by her enjoyment. He shuddered as his tongue hit cold, smiled, then ate the rest of the bite. Soon he had his face in the bowl, licking it clean. That's a boy, Reyes said. He sampled more food, but right when Elise and Reyes started on their Kobe beef, he clutched his stomach and looked at them with an almost comical confused look.

and then threw up all over the dinner table. Elise stood up, threw her napkin down at the mess, and declared, I'm going to visit Lars at Lunar North. Call me when you come to your senses. The domestic assistant swooped in to clean up the mess and the boy. Rea, in a funk, retired to a room to brood over what had gone wrong. She'd started this with the best of intentions,

but it wasn't going to plan now. Her mother had her drudgy face on, the domestic assistants looked annoyed, and she could hear the child screaming and fussing away from somewhere deeper inside the family estate. Hell, she didn't even know the child's name. One of the engineering staff came back in with the boy. We weren't sure where you wanted him to stay.

Before Rea could say anything, the child ran toward the window at the back of the living room. Earth, he said, pressing against the thick glass, his large brown eyes filled with tears. He can speak, Rea said. Thank goodness. She'd started to worry that maybe the Farrells back down on the planet had started to lose the capacity to speak.

But that didn't make any sense as they all purchased medicines, weapons, and other supplies for many of the family businesses that still did trade below them. She assumed that you had to be able to speak to do that. Earth, the child said. Back to that nasty dump, Rea shook her head. Look around you. Look at everything I can give you.

I rescued you. The wealthy had left Earth long ago, moved manufacturing to orbit, moved all their wealth up, even scraped off all the good soil so they could grow whatever they wanted in orbit. Some people felt they had abandoned Earth or turned their backs on its suffering.

That only the very rich could afford to get to orbit, and that they'd walked away from their responsibility to be stewards. It was the ancestors of the wealthy who had done so much damage on their way to being rich. For Reyes' family, it was mainly held that if one really wanted to work hard enough, anyone could get into space. Those left behind had simply not applied themselves.

This child's ancestors had not applied themselves, but Rea had rescued it. The least the child could do was show some gratitude. Instead, he wiped snot from his nose and sniffed at the window until Rea's patience broke. The only word the child seemed to know was Earth. She left the estate for a walk to clear, her mind and meet up with a guinea for some actual conversation.

And if you want your golden ticket garrison to space, every fifth candy bar. Every fifth candy bar, new, new musk-branded wonka candy bars coming soon. That's right. They'll get you a free, a free trip to bars, one way. One-way ticket, though. God, wouldn't it be great if I'm all in favor of Elon Musk personally attempting to get to Mars with all the richest people in the world. Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I'm all for one-way tickets to

Mars. Oh, I don't think they'll make it. Oh, really? Well, yeah, I mean, I'm not big into gambling, but I would be so happy either way that I would absolutely gamble on this. No matter what happens, everyone wins. Yeah. Yeah. I think the best would be is if they like set up really nice stuff on Mars. and then die. And then when, you know, people try and go there, there's like nice stuff. Anyway. Yeah, that would be cool. But I think they're putting a little too much faith in their infrastructure ability.

Yeah, that's true. To set up nice stuff on Mars in the first place. Yeah, I've seen how badly their cars are made. I love that we're supposed to be impressed by their space rockets, as if, like, before I was born, we hadn't put a human onto the moon by way of... Yeah. Math done by women with notebooks. No, I mean, we had, we had, like, wizards in the Nevada desert, like, launching rockets with, like, Crowley's space journals in, like, the 1940s, which led to the space program.

And these fuckers can't manage to get something up into orbit consistently. Yeah. Pretty, pretty funny stuff. Yeah, because they're all fucking grifting each other. Anyway, what's not a grift are... Actually, a lot of these ads are probably great. These ads? Yeah.

Here they are. There's no shortcut for saving time. But saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. If your bookshelf and your for-you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society. The weekly podcast, that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives,

and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. From best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table.

It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files.

I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offered. me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new

version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back into the economic system that we all live in. Here's the story. Airwant orbitals carefully landscaped gardens curved up until they met the ceiling, a transparent metal that let you look in toward the center of the orbital, where the heavy infrastructure and docks

all clustered around a needle-shaped hub. The ring shape of the orbital let it spin and the insides of the hoop dripped with greenery that teams of biota specialists worked overtime to keep in balance. Getting a forest to stay alive against cosmic rays, occasional pressure losses from punctures, and the gyrations of a life support system

closed in so tight that problems cascaded around and dizzying complexities. Rea had studied systems management for a whole, agonizing three months, idly toying with the idea of becoming part of the ecosystem management team on one of the orbitals. But five minutes near a sewer processing plant deep in the bowels of Arawan had her change her mind.

She joined her father's team of orbital arbitrage specialists, flipping futures contracts based on complicated home-in transfers and cargo manifests through cis-luner space, a much more dependable income stream. Not that she needed much, the family endowment created back when her great-grandfather lived on earth and decided to start building orbitals as a lark with the extra billions lying around, would always take care of her. You had to do something, or life became awfully boring quickly enough. Ogunier met her in the scent garden, running his hands over lilacs and breathing them in with a

smile. Hung over or still drunk. Hi. Hello to you, Ray has said, stopping by a striking clump of mini cedar trees. No, I'm high. Aguania took a deep breath. Come on, Aguonier, really? After a treat like the one we had? Aguonier smiled and joined her by the cedars. Just a small buzz, take the edge off. Susie's still mad at you? Susie wouldn't speak or return messages right now. She'll get over it in a week. That little creature threw up everywhere. Aguignet picked up a stick and scratched at it. The smell of cedar filled the air between them.

Then I threw up. It was a horror movie in there. It'll take more than a week. Reyes sighed. Maybe I need to send her an apology. Ah, there you go. Something decadent and not easy to find anywhere in Arawan. Ogunnier took out a lighter and ceremoniously handed it to her. I'll have to have my people think of something, Reyes said,

flicking it off and on. It would be a good thing to, to set her personal assistant to. She hadn't spoken to him since she'd stuck him researching equipment for the trip that caused this whole mess. That's the spirit. It's the personal thought that counts, Agunier said.

That should help her forget all the vomit in her hair. He looked pointedly over at the cedars. The child's still throwing up, Rea confessed. It's pissing me off. I try to do the right thing and it goes all wrong. It's the story of my life, Aguñay. Everything is always a struggle. Rea held the lighter up to one of the branches

in front of them. The flame flickered as it scorched the bark, and they both patiently waited for it to catch and quicken. You know, Ogunnier said thoughtfully as the tree began to burn, you might need to get checked over. Hmm? Reyes stepped back as the flames leapt higher. A doctor. You didn't take the child through customs, like they have to. He nodded at the grounds crew, respectfully approaching with extinguishers. Ogunier held up a hand, so they stopped 20 feet away and waited. Oh shit, Reyes said. we could have all been exposed to some exotic earthbug, a Gunnier said. I'd get yourself checked up, or you might be the one vomiting everywhere. We had our booster shots.

Nevertheless. The smell of burning cedar made her mouth water. Rea made an appointment to have a doctor come in tomorrow, and she left the gardens to go have dinner with a guny. A floating restaurant with a liquid menu nestled in two of all places, the docks at the center of heroin. What do you think the grounds crew would do without us? A gunnier wondered later.

as they hung in the air near an old wooden deck, taken from some famous once sunken ship, and sucked at galactic swirls of soup, carefully deconstructed in the air between them. Raya poked a dumpling with a finger and watched it wobble its way towards a gunnier's nose. He dipped his head at the last second to bite at it, but it tumbled away from his chin.

They wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for us, Rea said. We'd have to send them away. Where? We're an orbital. It's not my job to think. about those things Rea protested and splashed broth droplets at him. The doctor came much later the next day, held up by an accident at the docks

or something silly like that, and by then the vomiting kid had been passed from assistant to assistant all through the house and then exiled to one of the pool rooms. But after a painful blood draw and some checks on his machine and a few scans, the doctor looked over his glasses to clear her. The scan results on the glasses,

full of complex imagery, reflected off his green eyes. everything comes in normal and you had your full compliment of booster shots before you left thank goodness she said but I'm glad you checked in can't be too safe he started to pack up his equipment

I'm so relieved Raya said letting out the breath she'd been holding as she waited for the verdict I thought maybe the boy had given me something the doctor turned back eyebrows raised rea groaned and rolled her eyes no not that it's the child we brought back up with us he keeps vomiting Well, maybe I should see him, the doctor said.

Ray aside. Okay, sure. She explained how they'd found the child as she led the doctor through the hallways to the pool room. The large clear blister that held the pool bulged out beyond Arawan's metal hall. If you dove down into it, you could look out along the outside of Arawan

or down at the earth. You could swim out into space. The domestic assistance had put the child in one of the bamboo cabanas around the pool, but he was sitting on the edge of the pool and looking down through it to Earth. Home, he asked, a whole new word since she'd last been around him.

Raya idly wondered if they were, indeed, passing over his home as she looked down through the pool at the blurred landmasses below them. Raya took out her diamond-tipped heels and sat with her feet in the water as the doctor ran scans, and then had to fight with the boy for a blood draw. He's malnourished, was the pronouncement,

and you've been feeding him the wrong food. The wrong food? Raya frowned, I don't understand. We gave him the best food. He ate our table. The house chef prepared the meal. The doctor carefully unwrapped a candy bar and handed the wrapper over. A child chewed on it, his sharp teeth shredding it quickly,

before he's swallowed in a noisy gulp. He's modified, the doctor said, his tone patient and completely polite, yet infuriating somehow. All the surface folk are since the turn of the century. There are microbes that eat plastic. Those capabilities were grafted onto the human genome. He eats plastic. They had to do that, or they'd all starve.

Don't you remember this from history class? History class? Do you remember the Exodus? Her great grandparents leaving the messy, despoiled Earth behind for the skies and other planets. Boring talks about trans-luner independence movements. The old democracy is failing on Earth and the great die-offs. She vaguely remembered something about plastic. She should have paid more attention, but Eric,

Eric had sat next to her in history, and she'd been so distracted. I guess I need to call Susie and see if we can put him back down, Rea said, finally. Susie couldn't do it. Her family had found out she'd used the ship without clearing it, and she was, ha, ha, grounded. Nothing Rea could say about humans being modified to eat trash in order to survive after being left on the surface made a difference. The child was stuck on Aero 1.

Garrison agreed to come over, but he didn't have anything to offer other than too many attempts to touch her hand or knee or get close to her. I think he really needs to get put somewhere where he can eat, she told Garrison. It's not going to be good for him in her house. We don't have that much plastic on a house scale. No oil in space. Plastics came from plants, and it made more sense to eat plants than waste them on packaging. But Rea knew where most of the plastics ended up.

Come on, Garrison. Help me take him to the vats. Garrison groaned, but she was, finally promised that she'd make it up to him afterwards. He was convinced he was going to get laid, but she was really thinking about the bottle of McCollin in the family vault. Or maybe she'd save the priceless scotch and fool around. Sex wouldn't be a bad way to kill some of her frustrations later. Garrison helped wrestle the child into a cart, and they drove over the vats where they pulled him through the airlock. It reeks, Garrison said. It wasn't quite the trash parks of Earth,

but it was the holding area for acres of Arawan's own trash before it got scrunched off to the recycling vats. Here you go, Reyes said. You can live here now. All the food you need. The child looked at her, not getting it. Go on. It took some convincing, some shouting, and a little subterfuge,

but then finally got the boy to settle in between two hill-sized mounds of trash, munching contentedly away on some plastic carry bags. At the airlock, Rea took one last look back. "'This is where I had to leave mittens,' she said sadly. "'Mittins? My cat. Oh. "'I wish,' Raya trailed off, forming her thoughts. "'I wish her families hadn't been forced to leave Earth and take everything with them. "'If they'd been allowed to stay, maybe they could have used their resources to help make things better.'

Garrison stared at her. "'Who said they were forced?' "'Raya frowned. "'My family, that's—' "'He laughed. "'We left because we could. could because we're better, richer, superior. Garrison hit the button and the airlocked doors thudded shut, leaving the Earth child alone in their trash. He tried to take her back to the family house,

but she dropped him off at his penthouse, disappointed. Garrison would be on his own for the night and without the antique scotch. Raya sat on the edge of the pool, looking down at the earth, passing by on each rotation of the orbital's great wheel, until it was time for dinner. By then, vague sense of guilt or responsibility had passed. You couldn't save every broken stray, even with the best intentions, she decided. Is that the story? Yeah, that's the story.

All righty. I like how it's subtle and would really take a lot of work to deconstruct what it's talking about here. Yeah, very lofty, kind of far-out, far out ideas it's it's it's uh diving into very fantasy very fantasy yeah there's nothing like this as any there's no real world parallels to you know the way people treat um we would never eat plastic what are you talking about well that part's like that's the only utopian part

we would they would never put plastic in our food what do you mean yeah oh god i wasn't even thinking about microplastics no yeah we definitely don't eat a credit cards worth of plastic every week, it's fine. Whoa, do we really? I might be wrong on the week there. Let's see. Is this like the five spiders a year thing? Or is this like real?

Yes. This is, this is, this is real. No, I do believe it. I mean, there's, yeah. I think about when I compost where I like, I compost shredded paper and shredded cardboard. And that means that like I'm composting things with tiny amounts of plastic in it because, like, you know, there's tiny little bits of plastic.

Yes. Every week we eat about a credit card's worth of plastic. Isn't that cool? Yeah. It's good for us. Isn't that an uplifting thought about civilization? Yeah. I like how we look back at the people who like ate off of lead plates and are like fucking morons.

Those idiots, those fools. Yeah. They didn't know better back then. unlike us, the enlightened modern people. Yeah. Well, what's funny is we do know better, and we just like can't do anything about it. Well, yeah, because we're the, we're not Raya and Garrison in this story. No, no, we're the trash child.

Yes, absolutely. All we can do is make a mountain out of our trash and maybe subterranean tunnels in the trash. I propose a dual power solution to this. where we build out our infrastructure on the trash planet. We're also strengthening our forces to overtake the spaceships. But I'm sure the anti-sivs will just try to blow up the ships in the first place. Yeah. And, you know, I don't want to stop them from trying, but I do want to eventually also get the spaceships.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is part of, I think, humanity's quest for the heaven. I read too much Octavia Butler to be like anti-humans. figuring out a way to space. I just don't want it to be colonized by the rich bastards. Which is really the only way. Which is unfortunately is the only way where it looks like it's going to happen.

Because also, if there was ever like an anarchist space program, it would be sabotaged by other anarchists. It's just not possible. There was a huge, in the like 1910s and then in 1920s, in Russia there were the anarcho-cosmists. and they were like, I mean, it was mostly this sort of weird theological, I mean, political movement where they were going to like resurrect the dead and like have like gay space communism basically. Nice. Nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they were some of the last anarchists that the,

that the USSR put up with because they were a little bit like lost in their own heads and not doing much political stuff. Yeah, that's, that's why I do kind of respect the anarchists to like cling onto Star Trek as like a utopian future. Despite, despite Starfleets many problems. It still is like one of like the better, better like end results for like humanity. And even like the Earth,

because like the Earth's doing great in Star Trek's future as well. Like it survives total cataclysm. And now it's like a very, very healthy ecosystem for animals and humans and other animals and plants. fungi and the whales that talk to space signals. So yeah. That's why I want to have both. We have to solve the problems of the problem of the rich people. And then we can have both space and a green utopia here on Earth. And in the meantime, don't steal children from places that have been impoverished. Places that have been impoverished by First World Country. You know, like, you know,

I can't think of any examples of rich people coming into impoverished. areas and just kidnapping children. I cannot imagine where the author might be pulling that outrageous idea from. Yeah, totally, totally out of, it's just science fiction. I will say, I do

like the idea of having a bathroom where I can just look down into space in the floor. Yeah, I know, so I'm just like sitting on the toilet, just like staring into the abyss. I want to swim in that see, that's why it's like, I want the nice stuff for everyone. I want to swim in the like bubble pool.

that looks out over all of everything. Yeah, no, we should bring back like, like, like the, like the Roman public baths, but just put,

just put them in space. For everybody, go have your space bath. Yeah. No, that is the one, speaking of Star Trek again, when, when William Shatner was hoisted up to almost outer space

on, I think it was Jeff Basos's, uh, uh, a penis-shaped rocket. He wrote, his immediate, like, he thought he'd be, like, filled with, like, wonder and awe. And he's like, no, space is terrifying. There's nothing there. It's just an abyss of darkness. We need to go

back to Earth. Earth is where the life is. Space was terrifying, which I do find to be a very, a very fun reaction as well as you, like, stare into, like, absolute oblivion, like, the cold death of everything. And you're like, no, no, there's, like, light on the Earth. Let's go back to Earth. But, you know, know, if I'm like hung over and I'm puking into a, and I'm puking into a toilet, I would also like to just look off to the side into the abyss and like, see how I feel about it, you know? Yeah. And then I can decide if I want to go back to puking in the toilet.

That makes sense. Well, it's because you didn't eat enough plastic. That's right. That's it. I hadn't got my credit cards worth in. It's a hangover cure that everyone should try. Well, the classic promo at the end of this for us is that we both. of podcasts, what's your podcast that you might be listening to the feed of already,

dear listener? Well, I spend a lot of time working on a podcast called It Could Happen Here. One of my more recent projects that I'm proud of is a Halloween special I put together about the Oregon Ghost Conference. And then I also kind of made a follow-up episode about this tech company called MindBank AI who wants to trap your brain inside a computer. So those projects are. my most recent favorite things I've worked on.

Those could be found on the It Could Happen Here Feed, wherever you get your podcast. I liked the Ghost Conference one. I didn't dislike the other one, but the Ghost Conference was really good. It was fun. I had a great time. It's fun to hear from someone who's skeptical around the grift around ghost stuff, but is not like a raw, pure, angry atheist or whatever, you know? I'm not like a Reddit, like debunker. I think a lot of these ideas have some conceptual basis in the way that they interact with our brain and how we form like phenomenons that create our reality.

But also, I think the way that a lot of these ghost hunters are going about it is maybe slightly misguided. And it's kind of missing the point of what these concepts were like invented for in the first place. And it is certainly really interesting area to be in when I'm like when I'm like in these paranormal spaces. because I believe in a lot of weirder stuff that they do but I don't believe in the type of weird thing they do

and it's certainly an interesting thing to navigate. Yeah. No, it comes across and it's good listening and if you're listening to this on the It Could Happen Here Feed, you can listen to my podcast that comes out every Monday and Wednesday called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, where I talk about history and people who were cool, who did cool things. Actually, a lot of times I have to talk about complicated people

who look cool on the surface and then you realize that they kind of sucked but they still did cool things because we're all imperfect. Are you saying that cool people are not universally good? Yeah. In every single way about their life?

Yeah. And if you want to know more about Tobias Buckell, you should Google him and his latest book is called A Stranger in the Citadel. I haven't gotten to read it yet. I've read a lot of his other stuff. But John Scalzy,

author of the Kaiju Preservation Society is this to say about his, Toby's latest book. With a stranger in the citadel, Tobias Buckell writes to the moment we live in with a clarity and urgency that only fable can provide, read it. So I will leave you all with that

and talk to you next week on Sunday for the Cool Zone Book Club. Bye everyone. It could happen here as a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone, media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for it could happen here, updating monthly at coolzone media.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. I'm Mangayshatikula and I'm back with a new season of my

podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talked to scientists, biopunks, kermudgens, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. To make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook. Each week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what

they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Ben Stillard, and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your for-you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island to serve the same level of discourse.

Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture, with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.